and he's -- about a month -- two weeks ago the polls were broadly for obama. now it's closing a bit because of the male part. white males tend to be republican voters and they're coming back to romney a little bit after a bit. in ohio they're not. seems as if in ohio the bain capital message has sunk in. virginia, florida, the white vote will go to romney. >> what struck you about that apparent contradiction in the polling? >> i think you saw a little bit of that bounce kind of come down after the post-convention. you're seeing it sort of return to a place where it was very tight. you saw aa shift among independents in florida, which is what made up a lot of that shift. the striking thing about all three polls is how few persuadable voters there are. that's what these debates are usually about but it may wind up be something to turn out the base and fire up some of their people. >> one of the issue, i put this to both of you, one of the problems with mitt romney's campaign, which has been critiqued by those on the left and right, his friends and enemies, is th